“Everybody’s there to beat you”: Rome champion Svitolina will arrive at Roland-Garros with new confidence but a focus on the first round
A third Italian Open. A 20th career title. Four Grand Slam semi-final losses. Eight days before Roland-Garros, Elina Svitolina has reset the conversation about her chances in Paris.
Elina Svitolina, Rome 2026 | © Foto FITP
Eight years ago, Elina Svitolina won back-to-back Italian Open titles and arrived at Roland-Garros as the player most expected to add a Slam to her record. She did not. Across the seven years since, she has reached four Grand Slam semi-finals – at the US Open in 2019, at Wimbledon in 2023, at Roland-Garros in 2025, and at the Australian Open this past January – and lost all of them. On Saturday, at 31, she won her third Italian Open. And of course, the question emerges: can Svitolina win her first Grand Slam in Paris, in eight days?
She will arrive at Roland-Garros as the in-form clay-court player on the WTA tour and the only top-10 woman to have won a title on the outdoor surface this season. Svitolina beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 in the final at the Foro Italico. It is her first WTA 1000 title since 2018, her fourth in total, and the 20th singles title of her career.
“I had already two times after winning here the same situation,” Svitolina said in Rome. “Now it’s been eight years since that happened. Of course, it gives me a lot of confidence. Gives me a good look at Roland-Garros. But I still want to put my head down and really work, prepare from the first round. There are really tough players. You cannot underestimate. Everybody’s there to beat you. They have nothing to lose, so you have to expect tough matches. For me, it’s just taking one match at a time and giving myself a good chance to compete well.”
20th title, a “round number”
The draw she came through this week is what gives the title its weight. Svitolina beat Nikola Bartůňková in the second round, Hailey Baptiste in the third, and above all Elena Rybakina in the quarter-final (saving 16 break points in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win), Iga Swiatek in the semi-final (6-4, 2-6, 6-2), and Gauff in the final. Three Grand Slam winners. Five of the six latest Roland-Garros winners.
She herself compared the run only to her 2017 Toronto title, where she had beaten four top-10 players to win her first WTA 1000. “The only one I remember as tougher was Toronto when I won it,” she said. “Here, taking into consideration that I was playing past champions who love to play here – Rybakina, Swiatek — and Coco, who made the final here and won Roland-Garros, who is a great clay-court player. It gives me a lot of confidence going into Roland-Garros.”
The Roland-Garros week ahead carries a private dimension as well. Gaël Monfils, Svitolina’s husband and the father of her daughter Skai, who will make a farewell to the court Philippe-Chatrier, aged 39.
“I think for him will be a lot of nerves, but I think he already settled a little bit down with it. He’s just going to enjoy and give it his best shot, the last one.”
The first round of Roland-Garros begins on Sunday 24 May. Svitolina will be there with the Rome trophy fresh, the 20th title achieved, and Monfils approaching what will be his final tournament on the surface that defined his career. Many more emotions to come for the family.
